Guest
Practical application The MfS used decomposition primarily as a psychological instrument of oppression and persecution. [15] It used the findings of “operative psychology“ gained at the State Security Law School (JHS) in a targeted manner, [16] in order to undermine the self-confidence and self-esteem of the victims. These should be confused or frightened, exposed to permanent disappointments and socially uprooted through disruption of relationships with other people. In this way, life crises were to be provoked that were intended to unsettle political opponents and put a psychological strain on them, so that the victim was deprived of the time and energy for anti-state activities. [17]The MfS as mastermind behind the measures should not be recognizable here. [4] [18] The self-affected writer Jürgen Fuchs therefore also spoke of “psychosocial crimes“ and an “attack on the human soul“ . [17] Although methods of decomposition can be proven as early as the late 1950s, decomposition as a method was not scientifically defined until the mid-1970s and was primarily used systematically in the 1970s and 1980s. [19] The number of people affected can only be determined with difficulty, since the source situation is often incomplete due to deliberate concealment, but the methods used were diverse and the departments involved were numerous. Altogether, a four to five-digit number of people in groups and a three-digit number of individuals are likely to have been subjected to decomposition measures. [1] Other sources assume that about 5,000 people were affected by the decomposition and were “permanently damaged“. [2]A double-digit number of dissertations on the subject of decomposition were submitted at the law school. [20] There is also around 50 pages of teaching material on decomposition with numerous practical examples. [21]
